POSTAL workers are warning the public of the ‘end of Royal Mail as we know it’, as 115,000 employees strike today and Black Friday (25th November).
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will walk out, as part of a longstanding dispute that has recently seen workers take a unanimous no confidence vote in company CEO Simon Thompson at thousands of workplace gate meetings this week.
The strike comes as Royal Mail senior management presented take-it-or-leave-it proposals to the CWU.
The proposals, which were hailed by Royal Mail yesterday as a ‘final and best offer’ to workers, include:
- Turning Royal Mail Group into a gig economy-style parcel courier, reliant on casual labour;
- Thousands of inevitable compulsory redundancies;
- A wholly inadequate, non-backdated 3.5% pay increase;
- Demands that the CWU no longer formally supports workers who have submitted employment tribunals for unlawful pay deductions during strikes;
- Demands that the CWU be removed from the workplace and transformed into a company union to help management implement plans;
- Refusal to allow the CWU to negotiate revision proposals locally;
- Later start and finishing times that will see Royal Mail abandoning the AM delivery period;
- Cuts to sick pay;
- Removal of Sunday premium payment;
- The introduction of technology that will monitor postal workers every minute of the day;
- No job security commitments at all.
In response, the union is arguing for the following proposals to help resolve the dispute:
- An improved 18 month pay deal including back pay for all workers;
- A guarantee of no compulsory redundancies;
- The restoration of previously agreed processes for voluntary redundancies;
- A joint review of all agreements and the relationship between the CWU and Royal Mail Group;
- Re-establishing the right of CWU reps to be fully involved and able to negotiate on local revisions;
- An alternative business strategy that would see Royal Mail Group use its competitive advantage to grow as a company, instead of becoming a gig economy parcel employer.
CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: ‘We are disappointed that instead of reaching a compromise to avoid major disruption, Royal Mail have chosen to pursue such an aggressive strategy.
‘We will not accept that 115,000 Royal Mail workers – the people who kept us connected during the pandemic, and made millions in profit for bosses and shareholders – take such a devastating blow to their livelihoods.
‘These proposals spell the end of Royal Mail as we know it, and its degradation from a national institution into an unreliable, Uber-style gig economy company.
‘Make no mistake about it: British postal workers are facing an Armageddon moment.
‘We urge every member of the public to stand with their postie, and back them like never before.’